Extraordinary Ordinary Guy In Japan

OKARA

I cannot help but tell this stupid local news.
This June, in the election of town councillors for CHIZU Town, TOTTORI Prefecture, candidate KISHIMOTO beat another candidate OKADA by a margin of only one vote. The defeated candidate OKADA got to know that there is a ballot said "OKARA" and it was counted as null and void. He claimed that "OKARA" was a slip of the pen for "OKADA" and it was a vote for him. The Election Administration Committee accepted this and it means that OKADA had obtained the same number of votes as KISHIMOTO. And it was decided that the winner will be selected from these two by drawing of lots.

By the way, "OKARA" is the name of a certain food. OKARA is the dregs of boiled and filtered soybean juice. As you know, filtered soy milk become tofu if it is solidified with calcium sulfate. OKARA is very nutritious and healthy food but it doesn't taste good.

Let me return to the subject of the election. The candidate KISHIMOTO claimed that "OKARA" had pointed him out. He said that he had cows and he used to feed OKARA to his cows. And he also said that all townsmen know that. (I've never heard about a cow which eats OKARA)
I think that both of these childish men should be defeated.

Craze in '90

If you are planning to put something on the Japanese market and expect big sales, there is one easy way for it. You have only to shout "Everybody has already bought it!" on TV or magazine again and again. Many Japanese cannot decide on what their money should be used just because they dislike using their brain. They are the idlest people in the world in that they depend on others' opinions to know what they like or dislike themselves. They open their wallet without wavering when they heard that something is in fashion, however stale or stupid it is.
I try to go back to the 1990s and list some strange crazes among Japanese people year by year.

CHIBI-MARUKO-CHAN

Comic book series about a little girl and her family and friends of the 1970s when the author MOMOKO SAKURA spent her elementary school days. The TV animation that's based on the comic was started in 1990 and it was adored not only by children but adults who felt nostalgia for it. It recorded the highest viewership ratings (39.9%) of any Japanese TV animations. The CD of its theme song "ODORU PONPOKORIN" with incomprehensible lyrics sold no less than 1.9 million copies. 15 volumes of the comic books have been published until now, and their sales amount to a total of 30 million copies.

IKA-TEN

In a midnight TV program, the bands-competition-style part named "IKA-TEN" won popularity. The amature band, which got high evaluation from the judge and remained undefeated, could receive backup from the program in order to make its major debut. A lot of people who are crazed by the program began to make their own band. Since the music companies wanted to take advantage of the fad and made too many low-quality bands come out easily, people's interest fade and almost all bands were forgotten away.

JINMEN-GYO (Human Faced Fish)

In the end of the '80s, the rumor of a dog with human face had spread among Japanese people as one of the city legends. The dog was said to be able to run fast like a car, and if it was talked to, it was said to say "Leave me alone". Influenced by this rumor, a human faced rock, a human faced spider, a human faced crab or other weird human faced stuffs were also in the center of attention of the people.
A human faced fish, the carp with head unevenness which looked like a human face, also found at a temple in YAMAGATA prefecture, and people thronged to see it. The fish got seriously overweight and sick because people feed it too much. Fortunately, it had narrowly escaped from death.

OYAJI-Gal

OYAJI-Gal, the women in their twenties who act like Japanese middle-aged men, increased in number. They amused themselves with things which had been thought to be amusements for men, such as playing golf, gambling, reading tabloid newspapers in the train, and drinking SHOCHU (distilled liquor) in shabby bars.

NATRITA-RIKON (Divorce at NARITA)

Young people came to take marriage lightly, and many couples got married impulsively before knowing each other well. Between their honeymoon trip, they got to know their true character and opted for divorce as soon as they arrived at NARITA Airport from disappointment.

ASSIE-KUN

Japanese men had became to throw their pride and do anything to be loved by women. In spite of not being invited to go out by the women they love, they were glad to be called only when she went home and drive their car only to take her home. The women had only took advantage of the men without sympathizing with them. The word "ASSIE-KUN" has meaning of "a substitute of my feet (transporter)".